Humidifier

ABSTRACT

A humidifier in which there is a housing having a water reservoir mounted therein. An endless porous belt is movably supported in the husing by a support frame with the lower portion of the belt disposed in the reservoir. The belt is rotatably driven by a drive assembly to move successive portions thereof into and out of the reservoir A blower moves air through and out of the housing so that the air will pick up the moisture from the water saturated belt. The supporting frame is urged toward the drive assembly to compress and knead the belt therebetween it during its rotational movement and to remove lime deposits therefrom.

United States Patent 1 Wagner et a]. July 10, 1973 [54] HUMIDIFIER 1,818,391 8/1931 Greene 261/80 [75] Inventors: Earl S. Wagner; Vernon W. Dinn,

Primary Examiner-Tim R. Miles both of Columbus, 1nd.

Assistant ExaminerSteven H. Markowitz [73] Assignee: Arvin Industries, Inc., Columbus, Attorney Tl-ask J ki & Hanley Ind.

[22] Filed: Nov. 12, 1970 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.: 88,571 A humidifier in which there is a housing having a water reservoir mounted therein. An endless porous belt is movably supported in the husing by a support frame (g1. 261/836 with the lower portion of the be disposed in the resep voir The belt is rotatably driven y a drive assembly to [58] Field of Search 261/80, 55/231, 232, h d f h 55/234 move successive portions t ereo mto an out o t e reservoir A blower moves air through and out of the housing so that the air will pick up the moisture from [56] References Cited the water saturated belt. The supporting frame is urged UNITED- STATES PATENTS toward the drive assembly to compress and knead the 2,150,027 3/1939 D'Annunzio 261/80 belt therebetween it during its rotational movement SPIOUSB et a1. t. and to remove deposits the efron 3,328,941 7/1967 Green 261/80 3,352,297 11/1967 Martin et al. 261/80 5 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures 2 34 4O 26 2 i 27 i n 40 3 28 2| -l4 i g E A a 24 II N i 5 H 5 nnnnnnn INVENTORS EARL s. WAGNER VERNON W. DIN N PATENTEUJUUO|975 3,744,772

- sum 2 or 2 227 228 6 i' 228 227/) z/zlo v IINIII 2 INVENTORS EARL S. WAGNER VERNON w. mm;

*ATTORNEYS 1 HUMIDIFIER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Humidifiers which blow air across or through a porous belt have met with substantial commercial success. In these humidifiers, the belt, whose lower portion is suspended in a water reservoir, is rotated through said reservoir so that it picks up moisture therefrom. The air blowing through the belt picks up the moisture and blows it into the room to be humidified.

Due to the hardness of the water, however, the cellular structure of these belts becomes plugged up with lime deposits with the result that the belts are able to pick up less moisture from the reservoir, their fibers break, they catch and collect dirt particles in the air, and the like. This therefore requires frequent replacement of the belts. In an effort to overcome these problems, it has been proposed to add various water treatment compounds to the reservoir, but this requires the periodic addition of such compounds, and they pro duce a sludge at the bottom of the reservoir making it necessary to empty and clean the reservoir at frequent intervals.

We have found that by kneading the belt as it is being rotated the lime build up on the belt can be prevented. This results in a longer belt life while eliminating the necessity of adding chemicals to the reservoir and/or frequent emptying and cleaning of the reservoir. It is therefore an object of our invention to provide in a humidifier a compressing and kneading assembly which will compress and knead the belt to prevent the build up of lime deposits thereon.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with one form of the invention, there is provided a housing having a water reservoir. A porous belt is mounted in the housing on a supporting frame with its lower portion in the reservoir. The belt is rotatably driven by a drive roller so that successive portions of the belt are continuously moved into and out of the water in the reservoir. A blower is mounted in the housing to blow air through the water saturated upper belt portion and then outwardly through the housing.

In order to prevent the build up of lime deposits on the belt, it is carried on a compression roller on the supporting frame adjacent the drive roller. A pair of springs act on the supporting frame to urge its compression roller toward the drive roller whereby the belt is compressed between the drive and compression rollers during its rotational movements. Desirably, a plurality of projections are provided on the outer face of the compression roller which embed into the belt and knead it as it is rotated by the drive roller.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. In such drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through a humidifier embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal section similar to FIG. 2 but showing a modified form of the belt cleaning assembly; FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken on line 44 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal section similar to FIG. 2 but showing another modified form of the belt cleaning assembly;

FIG. 6 is a vertical section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a vertical section similar to FIG. 3 but showing another modified form of the belt cleaning assembly; and

FIG. 8 is a horizontal section taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in FIG. 1, the humidifier has a housing 10 having air inlet and outlet vents 11 and 12, respectively. A blower in the form of motor-fan unit 14 carried in a shroud 15 is mounted in the housing adjacent the inlet vents 11 for pulling air into the housing through said vents, blowing it through the housing, and discharging it through the outlet vents 12. A water reservoir l6, plumbed or hand filled, is supported on the bottom of the housing.

A frame 18 is removably mounted in the housing and comprises a pair of vertically extending legs 19 each having a laterally projecting wing 20 adjacent its upper end. The frame is carried in brackets 21 on the housing side walls. Each of the brackets comprises a vertically extending arm 22 terminating at its lower end in an up wardly directed book 23 in which the lower ends of the wings are received and pivotally supported so as to allow floating movement of the upper end of the frame. The legs 19 are interconnected by a cross-brace 24 which is curved at its lower end to form a smooth rounded surface 25 extending transversely of the frame. A roller 26 extends transversely of the frame 18 above the brackets 21 with its axles 27 rotatably carried in openings in the frame legs 19. As shown, a negator coil type spring 28 is mounted on the upper end of each of the leg wings 20 for reception over the adjacent bracket arm 22 for releasably retaining the frame in position on the brackets 21 and resiliently maintaining the upper end of the frame against the 'arms 22.

An endless porous belt 32, conveniently in the form of an open cell foam, is carried around the roller 26 and the lower end 25 of the frame brace 24 with its lower portion disposed in thereservoir 16. The belt is driven by a drive roller 33 whose axles 34 are journalled in a pair of brackets 35 mounted on the housing side walls. A motor 36 is mounted on one of the brackets 35 and is connected to one of the roller axles 34. The brackets 21 and 35 are located closely adjacent each other so that the drive roller 33 is supported in a position such that the springs 28 maintain the frame 18 in a position for compressing the belt 32 between the rollers 26 and 33. Such compression disposes the belt in driving engagement with the roller 33 so that as it is rotated by the motor 36, it rotates the belt 32 to move successive portions of the belt into and out of the reservoir 16. The belt picks up moisture from the reservoir, and that moisture is then picked up by the air from the fan 14 and discharged through the outlet vents 12 with said air.

As the belt passes between the rollers 26 and 33, it is compressed and kneaded. This prevents the build up of lime on the fibers forming the belt. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, each of the rollers 26 and 33 has a plurality of projections 40 formed thereon which embed into the belt as the belt is passed over the roller 26 and between the rollers 26 and 33. It is" to be understood, however, that only one of the rollers may be provided with such projections or both may have smooth outer faces. In the latter instance, however, it is necessary to increase the pressure of the roller 26 against roller 33 to achieve the same degree of belt cleaning where one or both of the rollers has projections thereon.

The embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 differs from that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in the construction of the compression assembly for compressing and kneading the belt. In this embodiment, the frame 118 comprises a pair of vertically extending legs 119 interconnected by a cross-brace 124, with the lower end of said brace terminating in a smooth rounded surface 125 extending transversely of the frame. As shown, the frame legs 119 are slidably received in pairs of opposed channeled brackets 126 mounted on the opposed side walls of the housing 110. A pair of plates 127 are mounted on the upper ends of the legs 119 and are provided with upwardly extending ribs 128. A roller 129 extends transversely of the frame 118 with its axles 130 rotatably carried in openings in the ribs 128. As shown in FIG. 3, one of the axles 130 is connected to a drive motor 131 mounted on one of the plates 127. An endless porous belt 132 extends over the roller 129 and the rounded end 125 of the frame 124 with the lower end of said belt being disposed within the water reservoir.

A cylindrical transversely extending brush is also carried by the plates 127. Said brush comprises an axle 137 rotatably carried in openings 138 in the plate ribs 128. A plurality of bristles 140 radiate outwardly from the axle 137 along the length thereof and engage the belt 132. Because of the inherent resiliency of the axle 137 and the spacing between the brush and the drive roller 129, the bristles will embed into the belt 132 as it is rotated between said brush and roller to prevent the build up of lime deposits on the belt, whereby said brush serves as a compression roller for the belt.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. and 6, the frame assembly 218 comprises a pair of vertically extending legs 219 slidably carried in pairs of opposed channeled brackets 226 mounted on the opposed side walls of the housing 210. The legs 219 are interconnected by a cross-brace 224 terminating at its lower end in a smooth rounded surface 225 extending transversely of the frame. The upper ends of the legs 219 are connected to a pair of laterally projecting plates 227 having upstanding ribs 228 mounted thereon. A drive roller 229 extends across the frame with its axles 230 being carried in openings in the ribs 228. As shown, one of the axles 230 is connected to a drive motor 231 mounted on one of the plates 227.'An endless porous belt 232 is carried over the roller 229 and the rounded brace surface 225 with the lower end of said belt being disposed within a water reservoir.

A transversely extending bar 235 is mounted on the plate ribs 228. The spacing between the bar 235 and the roller 229 is less than the uncompressed thickness of the belt 232 so that said belt is compressed between the bar and the roller as it is rotated by said roller. In

this illustrated embodiment, the bar 235 is fixedly mounted on the ribs 228, but if desired, it can be biased toward said roller in any convenient manner for effecting belt compression between said bar and roller.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the frame 318' also comprises a pair of vertically extending legs 319 slidably carried in pairs of opposed channeled brackets 326 mounted on the opposed side walls of the housing 310. The legs 319 are interconnected by a cross-brace 324 having a smooth rounded lower edge 325. A pair of plates 327 project laterally'outwardly from the upper ends of the legs 319, with each of said plates being provided with an upwardly projecting rib 328. A roller 329 extends transversely across the frame 318 with its axles 330 being rotatably supported in openings in the ribs 328. One of said axles is connected to a drive motor 331 mounted on one of the plates 327. An endless porous belt 332 is carried on the roller 329 and extends over the lower brace end 325 for reception in a water reservoir.

A pair of opposed, transversely extending brushes 350 are also mounted on the frame 318 below the plates 327. The brushes comprise a pair of holders 351 mounted on the frame legs 319 and having sets of bristles 352 projecting inwardly toward each other into engagement with the opposed faces of the belt 332. Thus, as the belt is rotated by the roller 329, the bristles 352 will compress and knead the belt to remove any lime deposits therefrom. While the brushes are shown as being fixedly mounted on the frame 318, it is to be understood, of course, that said brushes can be slidably mounted thereon and biased toward each other.

We claim:

1. A humidifier, comprising a housing, a water reservoir in said housing, a porous belt, a frame removably mounted in said housing, a roller mounted on said frame and movably supporting said belt in the housing whereby successive portions of said belt can be moved into and out of said reservoir to pick up moisture therefrom, blower means for moving air into and out of said housing for picking up moisture from said belt, a drive roller mounted in said housing and engageable with said belt for moving said belt into and out of said reservoir, said frame roller having a position in which it compresses the belt betweenitself and the drive roller and being floatable away from said position and resilient means for maintaining the rollers in belt compressing relationship.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which said housing is provided with a pair of brackets, said frame has a pair of legs interconnected by said roller and a cross-brace, a pair of wings project outwardly from said legs and are received in said brackets, said cross-brace having a curved lower end and said belt being carried around said roller and curved lower end, and said resilient means comprises a pair of springs mounted on said frame and engageable with said brackets.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 2 in which each of said brackets comprises a vertically extending arm having a hook at its lower end, and the lower ends of said wings are carried in said hooks and said springs are operatively connected to said arms.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 1 with the addition that said housing is provided with a pair of brackets, and said frame comprises a pair of legs interconnected by said roller and a cross-brace, and a pair of wings projecting outwardly from said legs are received in said brackets for removably mounting said frame in said housing, and said resilient means comprises a pair of springs mounted on said frame and engaging said brackets.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which at least one of said rollers has a plurality of projections thereon which embed into said belt. 

1. A humidifier, comprising a housing, a water reservoir in said housing, a porous belt, a frame removably mounted in said housing, a roller mounted on said frame and movably supporting said belt in the housing whereby successive portions of said belt can be moved into and out of said reservoir to pick up moisture therefrom, blower means for moving air into and out of said housing for picking up moisture from said belt, a drive roller mounted in said housing and engageable with said belt for moving said belt into and out of said reservoir, said frame roller having a position in which it compresses the belt between itself and the drive roller and being floatable away from said position and resilient means for maintaining the rollers in belt compressing relationship.
 2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which said housing is provided with a pair of brackets, said frame has a pair of legs interconnected by said roller and a cross-brace, a pair of wings project outwardly from said legs and are received in said brackets, said cross-brace having a curved lower end and said belt being carried around said roller and curved lower end, and said resilient means comprises a pair of springs mounted on said frame and engageable with said brackets.
 3. The invention as set forth in claim 2 in which each of said brackets comprises a vertically extending arm having a hook at its lower end, and the lower ends of said wings are carried in said hooks and said springs are operatively connected to said arms.
 4. The invention as set forth in claim 1 with the addition that said housing is provided with a pair of brackets, and said frame comprises a pair of legs interconnected by said roller and a cross-brace, and a pair of wings projecting outwardly from said legs are received in said brackets for removably mounting said frame in said housing, and said resilient means comprises a pair of springs mounted on said frame and engaging said brackets.
 5. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which at least one of said rollers has a plurality of projections thereon which embed into said belt. 